A LITTLE smile rises across David Nugent’s face when he fields questions in the media suite at Middlesbrough’s Rockliffe Park training headquarters. He had just been reminded that he could have been sat in the same room eight years ago.

Nugent is 30 now. Since leaving Preston North End in the summer of 2007 he has played for Portsmouth, Burnley and Leicester. Yesterday, after plenty of times trying, he finally became a Middlesbrough player.

The man from Huyton, Merseyside, could have moved to the Riverside before now, having previously caught the eye of Gareth Southgate during his time in charge. More recently Aitor Karanka had previously attempted to land him, although it has taken until August 2015 for him to head to Teesside.

“It was in my Preston days,” said Nugent, after confirmation had arrived that the striker has signed a three-year deal at Middlesbrough after a £4m fee was agreed with Leicester City.

“That was where I started and made my name for myself and I made my England debut at Preston, so there were a lot of clubs interested but I chose Portsmouth in the end. I had a few years there in the Premier League but it didn’t really work out.

“I dropped back down again with Leicester, worked my way back up and I have dropped back down again to Middlesbrough. I am hoping to have one season in the Championship and get back into the Premier League again. I knew Boro were interested a few years ago but it never got to the stage of coming up here. This is the first time.”

Middlesbrough are not thought to have met Preston’s £6m valuation eight years ago, although Sunderland are known to have pulled out of a deal at that time for Nugent after agreeing to pay the demanded fee.

Boro chairman Steve Gibson has given the go-ahead to pay Leicester the asking price and Nugent, who could be on the bench against Bolton this afternoon, can’t wait to get going.

“I am genuinely excited. I can’t wait,” said the one-time England international. “This club is showing a lot of ambition and I spoke to the manager here a couple of times before I signed.

“He was keen to get me here and it is always nice to feel wanted which is why I chose Middlesbrough. I know what the league is about, it’s a tough league and hard to get out of and I just hope I can be part of the team that gets promoted to the Premier League.

“It feels like a Premier League club here, the manager is really passionate and I could hear that in his voice speaking to him on the phone. He was desperate to get me here and I just hope I can repay his faith and do the goods on the pitch.”

At £4m he represents a much cheaper option than Blackburn’s £15m-rated Jordan Rhodes, even though Nugent brings greater experience and an impressive Football League goalscoring record with him.

Karanka claimed before Nugent had entered the media suite that his new recruit would always have been his first choice striker to come in had he known the circumstances earlier – and that he was available.

Nugent said: “That is massive for me, knowing he wants me as a player, it means I can come here and start playing and bang the goals in. If I am his number one target I am happy with that and hopefully I can repay him.

“No-one’s place is guaranteed in the team, if selected I will always give 110 per cent in my game anyway and if I come off the bench I will play with a lot of passion.

“That’s my game, I love closing down defenders and running in behind, and hopefully that can be a factor in getting the fans on our side and getting into the Premier League.”

Nugent scored 20 league goals and created 12 during his last season in the Championship as Leicester won the division in 2013/14, so he is confident he can handle the pressure of expectation at the Riverside.

He said: “Experience teaches you to deal with it, in my last four seasons in the Championship I have scored 15-plus goals and that has to be my aim again. If I can do that I will see it as a bonus. You need a 20-goal striker if you want to go up and hopefully I can be that man for Middlesbrough and get the goals to get them promoted.”